Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.

This is an honest and revealing book about a French woman who wants to become a chef.

She comes to the United States.

She doesn't know how to cook, but does she become an interesting chef and activist!

And my guest today, Ashley Martin.

It's so good to have you.

Thank you so much for having me.

This is your first appearance.

It is.

I'm so excited to be here.

Well, it's good.

It's your house.

We love being in your house.

So let's talk about what we're going to be preparing.

In the first segment, I am going to make a chicken dish with coriander and tell us what you're going to do.

So I like to have a little cocktail while I'm cooking, so I'll be making a French 75 and then a baked brie.

That's wonderful.

You know, I've always heard about French 75, but I've never had one.

So this is my day.

Oh, they're delicious.

You'll love it.

So you're going to start on your brie here.

Yes I'm going to start with the brie first.

OK. All right.

So you just--you've got some pastry here.

Yes.

And just tell us, you know, step-by-step what you're doing.

So just rolling out the pastry a little bit to get it all more even here.

And then I have this giant block of brie!

Who doesn't love cheese?

69 00:01:55,910 --> 00:01:56,636 I love brie.

Right.

And then I'm going to add some raspberry preserves to this.

Oh, lovely color, too.

While you're doing that, I'm going to heat up my chicken and onions so--.

Great.

And I'm holding your paper.

Oh, here.

I can put something that I hold that there.

That's good.

Good, good.

OK, so this actually is sort of a French invention too.

We've got the French brie and we have this pastry, which is, you know, was developed by the French and other countries have used it too.

And you're going to bake that, right?

Yes.

How long?

How long at what temperature?

At four hundred degrees for about thirty-five minutes.

And I like to add some fresh strawberries just because I like some fresh fruit in there.

But definitely don't have to.

That's just my little touch there.

Well, that's good where everybody has to have their own touch.

You know, I found so interesting that Dominique Crenn grew up in France and she kind of felt uneasy her whole life as a child.

She had loving parents.

She and her brother were adopted, and she really never knew where she came from until she was much older.

Yes.

And I think do you think that it had an impact on her life and what she chose to do in the sense of, you know, cooking and foods?

Yeah, because I think cooking very much is associated with home and your family.

And so I think she was always kind of looking for that place, even though her parents were very loving and she had great relationships with all of her families.

I just think that that was something she was always looking for a little bit.

And I just know I always think, you know, when I was growing up and Dominique had this, too, where she was in the kitchen with her mother when she was young and that some of my favorite memories, You know that is a good idea.

And I--I, unfortunately, didn't have that advantage.

My mother was the type nobody comes in the kitchen when she's cooking.

So I was twenty-two and my recipe said, make your sauce in the usual way.

And I said, what usual way?

I've never done the sauce.

So, you know, I had to really speed up and learn something.

So you were lucky to have your mom to work with in the kitchen.

Yes.

And she was a wonderful cook and she really enjoyed it.

And I know she was on your show many times.

She loved doing dinner and a book because two of her passions were cooking and reading.

Well, she certainly--she gave a lot of energy and ideas.

We always had a grand time when we went up to her house up on Lake Michigan.

Oh, I got this thing going here.

Alright!

This--this is a great stove.

And I'm going to cook these about four minutes on each side.

Then I'm going to cook some onions and then coriander stems that I have chopped because it is a coriander chicken.

And then I will add garlic and some other things toward the end and that will be our main course.

You're actually going to do the sort of a first course.

This is like--this is like--.

This is an egg wash. You make it very, well, delicious tasting, but also golden brown on the outside and help hold it all together.

And you knew about egg washes a long time ago.

I just never heard of one until I started cooking myself.

I had a lot of catching up to do.

So, about four minutes and then I'm going to put the chicken on a plate and we will add this, and then I'm adding some white wine to the dish and-- That's very French to add-- Yes.

White wine.

And this one is a white Bordeaux Mouton Cadet, which is very nice.

Yeah, I like the slightly dry, but I also like a bit of an oaky white wine.

And I knew your mother did too.

She did.

She definitely did.

She had a good sense of white wine.

So, we lived--the first part of the book is about her young life and she has a brother and they look very similar.

But she--.

I know it's surprising.

She--they--they both were adopted, as I said, but she always had a certain unease that she didn't fit in because she said later, 'I didn't look French' and she was not at ease.

And I think when she loves to cook, she started cooking with her mother.

She knew she wanted to cook and then she gets serious about it, but she finds out she can't really cook in France can't be a Michelin star winner.

Which I was very surprised about because you always hear about the French and how great they are cooking and--and for me, it was very eye-opening to hear that it was very focused on men in the kitchens.

It was in another book that we did was called Dirt.

And you talk about tough cooking situations in four star restaurants.

Can I open it for you?

Yeah, that'd be great.

Well, anyway, she said, I want to go someplace to learn to cook and where I can move ahead and I won't be told women can't do that because other than a few village restaurants where women did cook, they didn't ever cook to get a Michelin star.

And, you know, for her she wanted that star.

She--that was her goal.

Her goal was to get a star, go to the United States and learn to cook and be her own chef.

So--.

Well, she's very ambitious and I think you saw that throughout her life.

Whatever, you know, she did put her mind to being able to accomplish.

That's right.

And I heard her interview.

She takes--she doesn't take no for an answer and she is so French, she is so focused.

And anyway, there she goes.

She goes off, she's twenty-one.

She goes to the United States and she starts meeting people in San Francisco.

And I'm actually going to add these other vegetables now.

And I started on our French 75 here.

Oh good.

Tell us what you're doing.

Two shots of gin.

A shot of lemon juice and a shot of simple syrup.

Right.

So then you mix those up.

And I'm going to add some of the onions to the chicken drippings here.

We're going to cook those.

It smells great over there.

Over there.

Yeah it does.

I love it.

So we'll be cooking that.

I've got the stems.

I've never made the dish where you--you chop the stems of the coriander.

But I've done it today.

It's a first.

We're going to put the coriander in with the onions and we'll cook this.

Then we will add some white wine and I'm going to add some garlic.

Every French dish has garlic.

It seems like you've got the--.

Garlic and butter.

Oh yes.

They're great things together.

Well, this called for vegetable oil.

But I said no, we're going to use olive oil.

That's what they use.

Or butter.

So here we are.

Now tell us what you're doing.

So, once you have the gin and the lemon juice and a simple syrup mixed together and you put it in a cup, you add prosecco or champagne on top.

I heard you shaking your ice there.

And I'm going to put the lid on this and let this cook a while.

That looks wonderful.

Beautiful glass.

Here you go.

Absolutely perfect for a French Seventy-Five.

Yes!

Cheers!

To you!

My first 75.

Mm.

This become--this could become habit forming couldn't it?

It is.

It's very addicting.

It is lovely.

I'm delighted to have this opportunity to have this.

And so how long you're going to cook this?

Another, what?

Another thirty minutes about.

All right, so we're going to continue with our sipping and we're going to be finishing our first course here, our first effort, I'm going to let the onions and the cilantro stems cook a while.

We're going to take a little break.

We want to show you some pictures of Dominique and her brother living in France, in northern France, and then a picture or two of her in the United States.

We'll be right back.

We're back for doing our second segment and our main dish of the day and tell us what you're going to do, Ashley.

Yeah, so I'm going to be making Sole Meuniere.

So it's Dover Sole and I'll be adding some nice spices and a lot of butter and lemon.

Got to have butter.

What are you making?

446 00:11:45,250 --> 00:11:45,909 Oh, what am I making?

Well, I am cooking some endive and I will add chopped parsley and soy sauce.

And I know this sounds very unusual.

It is a very French recipe to use endive.

And you know, that's a cute little--little lettuce that you can make salads out of or you can cook it, which I'm doing today.

So I'll start on that.

And so you're going to do yours.

Yes.

I need salt and pepper.

Got to have some spices on the fish.

Oh, yes.

Salt and pepper on the fish.

And you have two fish there?

Or four?

There is four here.

I got out a little more just in case.

Just in case.

You never know In case somebody comes to the door.

Right.

Right, now let's see.

We're going to do a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.

And I have some water in here and I will add the endive and I'm going to add--we're going to let that cook and steam for a while.

And later on, I will chop some olives to go on top of that.

And I've added the vinegar and then I'll add salt and my last step will be some soy sauce and some garlic.

So we're going to let that cook a little bit.

I'm going to get the butter here going in the pan for the fish.

OK, well, I can just see it.

This wonderful fish swimming in butter.

Yes.

Butter and lemon.

Oh, that is so good.

That is a very typical French dish.

I don't mean common or that sort of thing, but it's considered one of the high fashion dishes in France.

Yes.

And it's actually very--well, I don't want to say very--but it's pretty simple to make.

Doesn't require a lot of ingredients.

You know, that was--Monique talks about a lot in her book that she likes to use fresh ingredients and things that are local.

And so that I thought was really neat and a great perspective that we do need to use more locally sourced products.

Yes.

I mean, in Elkhart we're trying to do that.

I know we're bringing in food from the farms outside of Elkhart and she actually owns property in Sonoma County.

And in--toward the end of the book, we find out or what I've read, she has she's adopted two girls that are probably eight now.

And they go out with her to the--to the farms and the gardens, I should say, gardens.

At this point in time, she has given up meat because she had breast cancer.

And toward the end of the book or what I've read since this book came out, she is engaged to the actress Maria Bello, who has played in many TV series and movies.

And she has--now she's working on her--her cancer, getting over her cancer.

But what is--what has hit California in the last year?

This COVID!

Yeah, I mean, it's hit everybody.

So, I mean, I can't imagine how that's affected her business.

I mean, her multiple restaurants.

I mean--.

Yes, she has three.

Yeah, she had three in San Francisco especially.

I know they went and locked down pretty early and stayed there for a long time.

And I just can't imagine how that's affected her businesses.

Well, she has closed her restaurant.

Oh, wow.

She has Atelier Crenn which won her first star, Michelin star.

Then she has Bar Crenn and then she is she's opening to others.

But she had to stop all of that planning.

But before she stops, she did win three Michelin stars, the first woman in the United States and I think maybe the first woman in the world.

And she likes to be known as a three-star chef, not a three-star woman chef.

She wants to be in there with the guys and say, I can do just what you're doing.

Yeah, well, she was able to accomplish her goal.

That was always a dream of hers.

And I think that's wonderful that she got there.

And I agree she should be known as a chef.

I mean, she has proven that she's just as good as everybody else, probably better.

Well, you know, I was reading some extra material about her.

How are you doing there?

Yeah.

I'm going to put the fish in now.

Try to get that going, yeah!

And that cooks pretty fast, doesn't it?

It does.

Cooks very quickly, but we've got to get the butter on there.

Yes, I think so.

Let me--no.

You can just put some there, too.

Yeah.

See, I start telling people what to do.

That's OK.

I'll always take advice.

Well, when I think about this COVID she said every day in San Francisco, five or six or seven restaurants closed down and she had closed down.

And so she is preparing food.

Two thousand meals a week for the health care workers.

I don't know how she's staying afloat either, unless she's writing some books or sell--I think maybe selling some product of, you know, aprons and that sort of thing.

I don't know where she is financially, but she was just like everybody else.

But I think that's wonderful, even though she's had hardships this year.

Mm hmm.

She is definitely-- That she's still trying to help her community.

Yes.

And-- And San Francisco is her community.

I mean, she's been there for I mean, many, many years now.

Yes.

I think-- well, she came when she was twenty-one and I think she's in her 50s now.

She has worked elsewhere in Indonesia.

I think she worked another country, maybe Japan or a Japanese restaurant, she actually earned her credit.

She worked in many and she said, you get to know business when you run a restaurant.

You really have to know.

Well, she went through, you know, some unfortunate things and she kind of learned the hard way when she opened her first restaurant.

She got some partners and they--they took advantage of her.

You know, they kind of asked her to sign something and she did.

And it kind of signed away the rights to a restaurant, which is unfortunate because it's really her dream and her--what she was working every day for, You know, I have even read some of these chefs that have the restaurant like Marcus Samuelsson, who is a very well-known chef in New York, when you--when you are working out or you're--you're going to sell your--your restaurant to someone else, they have the right to your name and--and they own everything about you.

So you have to have a lawyer to really work out all of those aspects of your restaurant.

But she learned the hard way.

But she's still, you know, was able to make I don't want to say come back, but she was still able to achieve her dreams and opened many successful restaurants and like you said, achieve three Michelin stars.

She did.

And--and we don't really think about that too much unless you're--.

Oh, the brie's is ready.

Oh, good.

Let's see.

Let's go ooh and ahh.

It's those mitts, right?

Yes, I don't.

Oh, isn't this beautiful?

Now, this is the way a baked brie should look, isn't that gorgeous?

It is.

It's beautiful.

It's very big!

764 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,480 Let's see, I have my--I just have to put in my olives, my soy sauce.

I think this one is done.

So you do about four minutes, don't you?

Four to six?

Yes, four to six minutes.

I'm not very patient, so I ended up flipping it more than once.

But that's just because I want to make sure it's cooked all the way through.

And it stayed together.

It did!

It stayed together.

The test of a good chef is to flip this sole in one piece.

And you did it.

Now, I hope I don't break your luck.

Well, it'll be OK either way.

I'm sure it'll still taste good.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

But you--you actually did what you're supposed to do.

It's wonderful.

I'm just checking on things here, making sure we're not running out of liquid.

And I will add--I will add some soy sauce and we're going to put in a teaspoon of soy sauce here.

So they used all kinds of ingredients, but when I lived in France, this was not a style of cooking, it was more pure French.

And now they're adding all these different ingredients, too.

So we have the endive and I will add the chopped olives.

OK, let them warm up a little bit and this will accompany the chicken.

And that will be our course.

I think I have everything.

Oh, I know.

No, that's OK. Fine.

All right.

Look at this.

Yeah, it's looking good.

Well, cheers.

My gosh, I better not have to.

Well, I'm not cooking anymore.

I can focus on the Seventy-Five.

Oh well, we have--we've accomplished what we wanted to do.

You've got a few more sole to flip right?

Yes.

Yup.

And we have about a minute to go.

And so we have--we've had--I've had a good time learning about her life and the struggle with being a woman and trying to cook, not ever having gone through the French traditional method of learning all these steps.

I mean, to be a chef in France, you have to be practically humiliated into your style and learning experience.

And she didn't have to go through that.

But she said, you know, there's sexism in American restaurants, too.

And we all know that.

We read quite a bit about that a couple of years ago.

So you're going to finish your sole.

I'm going to add more olive.

We're going to have some white wine with our meal and we'll, of course, finish our French 75.

We invite you to Bistro Martin.

Yeah, I like that name.

And--and we'll have lunch with you.

So we'll see you in just a few minutes join us.

And our book today has been Rebel Chef by Dominique Crenn, and we have followed her life from France to the United States and we've tried some of the food of France.

And I think we should have a little--we have a diversion here, a little Mouton Cadet, some French wine to go with our wonderful dinner.

Tell us tell everybody what you made here Ashley.

Yes, I made Sole Meuniere and a baked brie with raspberry preserves.

Looks beautiful.

And I have some endive here cooked with garlic and black olives and then a chicken dish with cilantro.

It's cilantro and coriander, the same thing, but it is cooked in a coriander sauce.

So and we have our French bread.

And I think we should have a toast right now.

Of course, cheers!

To you.

To being with you.

Thank you.

My first time You did a great job.

Thank you.

You really did.

It was a pleasure having you.

And I want to ask you what you thought of the book.

So I thought it was very interesting.

I liked her story that she was a woman and being able to achieve so many different things in her life and overcoming so many obstacles.

It was a real empowering story, I think, for women to hear.

And it was also, you know, she's very much a role model for other women.

She really is.

She had such energy.

She was feisty.

And you just have to love her.

I mean, she's kind of bossy, but she knows what she wants.

She goes for it.

And I have to say, Brava, Dominique, and I'm glad you made your stars in the United States.

Three stars, which is quite something for French people.

And so let's do a little--let's try a little tasting here.

Oh, and that keeps oozing out.

That's a sign of good brie.

To bake all the way through.

You know how to do it.

Well, we thank you for joining us today.

We so enjoyed having you for a French meal.

Thank you again.

Thank you for having me.

Pleasure.

And remember, good food, good friends, good books, good wine.

Make for a very good life.

Thank you.

And we'll see you next time.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.